Andino Wins Title in Surfing : San Clemente Man Is Top Junior Pro at Huntington Beach

Dino Andino of San Clemente showed why he is one of the world’s top young surfers by winning the Surf and Street Mechanix Junior Professional Championships Saturday at Huntington Beach.

Andino, 21, who finished second in the Professional Surfing Assn. of America standings last year, edged out Chris Brown, 18, of Santa Barbara.

Colby Outlaw, a PSAA professional like Andino and Brown, finished third while amateur Shane Beschen of San Clemente wound up fourth.

“The waves were kind of slopey today, slopey enough for me to hit the whitewater and do maneuvers on whatever waves I chose to ride,” said Andino, who collected the $2,000 first prize. “I wanted to take off and do moves on the outside of the waves and then save energy through the middle of my waves before finishing strong at the end.”

The competition was the second for Andino in as many days. Andino, who is currently third in the PSAA overall standings behind leader Bud Llamas of Huntington Beach and Todd Chesser of Honolulu, was second in Friday’s San Clemente Ocean Festival surfing contest behind Chris Frohoff of Redondo Beach.

“I was real tired from competing at San Clemente the day before and from the preliminary heats I surfed in today,” Andino said. “My legs were tired, but I felt my rhythm build up as the day wore on today, and that helped carry me through today.”

Brown, who is 14th in the PSAA standings, picked up $1,000, while Outlaw received $500.

Andino and Outlaw advanced to the finals by taking the first two places in the first semifinal heat. Andino and Outlaw finished ahead of amateurs C.C. Betcheloff of Huntington Beach and Joey Zintel of Newport Beach.

Brown and Beschen finished one-two in the other semifinal, defeating Juan Ashton of Puerto Rico and Huntington Beach High School freshman Jeff Deffenbaugh, 14, who came in fourth.